Rapidly Expandable Zeolite-Poly(vinyl Alcohol) Sponge for Fast Bleeding Control in Severe Femoral Artery Hemorrhage

Rapid and effective bleeding control is essential for saving lives from severe hemorrhage. Currently, expandable hemostatic materials are in urgent demand for narrow and deep wounds because they can be quickly packed into a wound cavity and expand internally to generate pressure that promotes hemostasis. In this work, a zeolite-poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) composite sponge was first prepared by decorating zeolite powders onto a commercial medical PVA sponge, and it was further fabricated into small tablets in a compressed state. The small tablets can be easily loaded inside a syringe-like applicator for rapidly injecting into deep wounds in less than 3 s, and they can quickly expand six times in less than 30 s when they come into contact with blood. This material shows outstanding hemostatic efficiency and excellent biosafety. In a New Zealand rabbit severe femoral artery hemorrhage model, the short average hemostasis time (123 s) and the small total blood loss (9.9 g) for the zeolite-PVA sponge group clearly demonstrate its outstanding hemostatic efficiency, compared to the commercial Celox sponge group (220 s and 22.9 g) and the gauze group (333 s and 28.5 g). Consequently, the timely and effective hemostasis led to a 100% survival rate for the zeolite-PVA sponge group in this severe femoral artery hemorrhage model. On the contrary, the survival rates of the gauze group and the Celox sponge group were only 67% and 83%, respectively. This rapidly expandable zeolite-PVA sponge material provides a promising solution for meeting the challenge of massive hemorrhage in narrow and deep wounds.